The protagonist is a teenage girl (Tamaki) who revisits a small village, she remembers from her childhood and gets caught up in her family's history and supernatural dangers surrounding it.

While walking along the hillsides waiting for the person who her grandmother sent to fetch Tamaki to the village, Tamaki comes across a small, white round object with sticks for limbs and talks. It runs off soon after, with Tamaki chasing after it. Soon Tamaki finds herself in a place where Ďit doesnít feel like the world I came fromí. She gets attacked by three slime creatures, and a male comes charging in to save her - by clamping his hands around her body and mouth and telling her to be quiet.

(~from Wiki & MAL~)

My Thoughts:

I was a little surprised that there was no thread for this anime, I have yet to watch it, I only really noticed it because the 6th episode just got subbed and appeared on FTV's front page. I haven't watched a reverse harem in a long time, so I'm thinking of picking this series up soon.

actually isn't that surprising nobody made a thread earlier like I commented about it in the general discussion thread, when the first episode was aired and I watched it with subs before dropping it two months ago: http://boards.fansub.tv/?act=ST&f=3&t=1183...ndpost&p=314715 -...oh well finally I have more than 500 posts, turning my username from -san to -dono

I watched it till ep 3 (Im still behind for some shows) and its not bad, but not great either, still it keeps me interested, mainly because of all the princess and youkai stuff. And Tamakis not that bad of a female lead, at least she has guts to want to do things herself instead of just beeing lousy like most female anime leads are normally in this situation.

Wouldve been great if it was a next Hanasakeru Seishounen (got a 10/10 from me) but well, gems are hard to make right?

Hiiro no Kakera is based off the otome romance game of the same name. Originally the show was planned for a 26 episode run but announced to be split into two seasons at the end of the 13th episode. This is a review of the first season that ran from April 2012 to June 2012. Season 2 will premier in Fall 2012. Hiiro no Kakera is directed by Bob Shirahata, who has worked on Gravitation and Hetalia Axis Powers, and animation provided by Studio DEEN, the studio who is also behind Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? and Sankarea this season. Otome (or reverse harem) titles have rarely been able to succeed in the anime industry not just because of a more male dominated audience base but also due to lack of interesting content. Otome games tend to move slower and have uninteresting developments. So will Hiiro no Kakera break this unfortunate chain of fate?

Tamaki Kasuga is the heroine of the show and is supposedly next in line as the Tamayori princess. Iíll be blunt, the story is slow and as slow as it is, the show never really explains whatís going on very well. At best we learn that the ďusefulnessĒ of the Tamayori princess is to keep the seal on the Oni/Onikirimaru but the story fails to explain why really this needs to happen. Like many shows of this kind, the protagonist is thrown into a ďworldĒ that she has no idea in and has to lead her protectors/followers. Think Fushigi Yuugi in this case (in fact, itís probably an incredibly accurate description). The story of then of course revolves around everyone whining and telling the heroine to become something no one has any idea of. In this case, everyone tells her to become the Tamayori princessÖand of course, she magically gets access to her innate powers at the end of the season with the catalyst of her beloved Takuma gradually becoming a demon. To sum it up, as ďcoolĒ as the opening video was the story itself is a flop. Poor action, too much useless talking, lack of explanations, and worst of all boring from beginning to end. Iím surprised the show decided to split it up into two seasons. Given how poorly the ďcliffhangersĒ are in this show (if you can even call them that), postponing the second season until the fall really only hurts the show as thereís no surprise element to keep users watching. This isnít like Fate/Zero where dialogue actually drives the show. If youíre going to do a dialogue heavy show, at least make it interesting and relevant. A lot of times we simply see the cast goofing off or getting all depressed.

Art is basic and lacking in detail and Iím not really surprised there. Character designs for the female cast is decent. The main hero group is very repetitive in design while the antagonist cast is actually a little more diverse. Surprising if you ask me since itís basic logic to at least make your heroes unique (unless the antagonists are the true heroes of the show). Animation is by Studio DEEN and is slightly better than Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? Of the Dead but not as good as Sankarea. Flashy effects and decent lighting in dark scenes made the show at least look pretty even for a bishounen title. Of course, not even the decent animation is enough to really save this show from its miserable story.

If thereís one thing about this show, itís the OP theme. The OP is a piece of work even though it really does not fit the context of the show (not counting the fact that itís a slow song and that ironically the show itself is slow). The ED theme is not that goodÖI expected better from Shuhei Kita having performed the Persona 3 Portable game openings. It looks like it may have been a one hit wonder for him at this rate. As for the rest of the score in this series, none of them are really memorable and if I recall correctly, the series is mostly silent, which is likely what also added to the bore factor of this show. Seiyuu wise you have Marie Miyake, who was Ringo Oginome in Mawaru Penguindrum taking on the lead heroine and Tomokazu Sugita taking on the hero role. These two are okay at best with Tomokazu really taking the lead and carrying the remaining dead weight cast. The rest of the cast really lacked any proper emotion. Most of the time I hear either nonsensical screams/complaints or monotone dialogue for about 5-10 minutes straight. There really is not much redemption here.

Enjoyment? Itís a snooze fest. Titles that are of the same otome genre yet do this better include Hakuouki (which is getting its prequel and 3rd TV series in July) and Fushigi Yuugi. You could also even throw in Pretear if you really wanted to. All of the above are far more interesting than this show. The show is really only around for its flashy effects if anything but even that can easily be topped by many other titles around.

Overall, Hiiro no Kakera is a failure. Itís incredibly hard to rewatch unless the second season really starts explaining some material but even then it would be difficult to show this to anyone and have them maintain attention spans for a minimum of 13 episodes. Even if it does get better, it probably wouldnít be a huge turnaround like Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon. If youíre looking for bishounen titles, many other series do this much better like Hanasakeru Seishounen or Saiunkoku Monogatari. Heck, even Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% is better than this.

Hiiro no Kakera Season 2 is one of many sequels this past season. As the first season had just aired in Spring 2012 and because this season is a direct sequel, this review will mostly be a follow-up review. Like the first series, Hiiro no Kakera Season 2 was simulcasted on CrunchyRoll during its premier. However, unlike the first series, Hiiro no Kakera Season 2 has yet to receive a US license. You can find the review of the first series in the above post.

The second season of Hiiro no Kakera continues right where season 1 leaves off. Right off the bat, they reveal potential "traitors" in Tamaki's group, which adds a bit of spice to both the protagonist and antagonist teams. Unfortunately, this whole "I'm the real bad guy" role grows old fast as you continue to have a bunch of wishy-washy characters who have no idea what they really want to do. The show only lifts itself up a little when Takuma finally decides to man up and take matters into this own hands despite knowing he has a demon inside himself. Like the first series, the so-called "plot" continues to drag its feet with a few revelations every few episodes. These revelations, however, become so blatantly obvious and predictable after a certain point that they're not really revelations any more. The "action" continues to be lacking in this show despite all the flashy effects in the OP sequence. Lastly, it seems that every character in this show is shocked and/or incapacitated by every small discovery. Conclusion? As far as I'm concerned, the show ended at episode 10 or 11 and you really didn't need 22 dragging episodes to build up to that moment. A lot of holes remain in this story as well as the role of the "Tamayori Princess" is never really explained clearly.

Art has improved a bit this time around as did character designs. I guess with Studio DEEN working on lesser titles this season (1 title vs. 3? in spring), their production values definitely improved. Coloring has also stepped up a bit but flashy and special effects remain rather dull compared to what is shown in the OP sequence.

OP/ED are by the same two artists as the first season. The songs are better this time around and fit the series much more. Background music and sound effects remain unmemorable and close to nonexistent. Seiyuu remains the same as the previous series.

Enjoyment? Still a snooze fest. This aspect really hasn't improved from season 1 despite all the so-called twists and reversals this series tried to pull.

Overall, Hiiro no Kakera is not a good show. It fails as a bishounen series (of which we have many this season as well), a romance series, and as a reverse harem title. It's budget is clearly not lacking but it lacks good writers, good execution, and basically all other elements that make a show a satisfactory watch. Hakuouki, Saiunkoku Monogatari, Hanasakeru Seishounen, Fushigi Yuugi, etc... this list goes for titles better than Hiiro no Kakera. With that said, Hiiro no Kakera is not completely unwatchable as it does have a few perks every now and then. However, it's the huge amount of negatives that consistently doesn't justify the need to really watch this show.